As the Rebels rolled into Dedham on September 27, they knew they had to prove something. Just a week before the Rebels came off their first loss of the season losing to Needham 26-6 as Walpole seemed to lack intensity and played an overall sloppy game. Knowing this Walpole took this personal as they knew they had to have a strong start and dismantle the much weaker Dedham squad. The Rebels did just this and more.
The Rebels started the game perfectly as they took their opening drive right down the field with ease. The drive was capped of when senior Captain Will Bolster connected with junior wide out Jack Lavanchy on a 31 yard touchdown pass to put Walpole ahead. As the Rebels stifled Dedham’s offense they forced a punt as they went three and out. Walpole quickly responded as they once again went right down the field as Dedham struggled to stop Walpole’s up tempo offense. The drive was capped off with a 19 yard touchdown run by senior Captain Connor Moriarty.
Moriarty stated, “The first few drives for us were huge. We knew coming in that we could blow them out and the coaches reminded us all week to not play down to our competition and for us to play Walpole football.”
The first quarter was much of the same as the Rebels put up two more touchdowns–another Moriarty run and an interception return by junior Andrew Papirio. Going into the second quarter the Rebels were determined to keep up the intensity as they hoped to keep up their strong play. Walpole did just that as they took a 35-0 lead at the beginning of the second quarter as Moriarty punched in a four yard score. After this score the Rebels started getting the backups in to get valuable game experience against Dedham’s first team. Even as the backups came in Walpole continued to dominated as they forced another three and out to get the ball back. The offense–now led by backup quarterback senior Brendan Chaisson–continued to drive down the field as sophomore Lovevindy Salvant ran in from 25 yards to put Walpole up 42-0. However, Dedham did strike before half time as they managed to get in the end zone to make the score 42-6 at half.
The second half was a good experience for the JV team as they got most of the reps as they played against Dedham’s first team. The game ended in a Walpole blowout as they won 49-20. The Rebels next game is against Wellesley at Wellesley High School on October 5th. The Rebels hope to continue their success in a key match up which has major playoff implications on the line.
